Sociopathic Sound started as a Philadelphia-based web project in June 2012, but it’s about to transition into a record label, with plans not only to sign bands for new releases but also to re-issue previous works on vinyl or as digitally remastered releases. Since opening the doors last year, Sociopathic Sound has also been compiling free mixtapes (with permission of the bands and labels whose songs have gone into the comps). As of today, the latest comp — Vol. 4 — has gone up on Bandcamp for streaming and download, and man, it’s a whopper.
The latest comp consists of 100 tracks by bands from all over the world — and all over the genre map of extreme music. In looking through the list, I recognize these bands with whom I’m at least somewhat familiar and whose music I already know I like (and we’ve written about many of these here at NCS):
Primitive Man, Nails, Slaves BC, Sidious, Acrassicauda, Polkadot Cadaver, Antropofago, Buckshot Facelift, Svart Crown, The Psyke Project, Interment, Cage, Enabler, Psychofagist, The Binary Code, Slash Dementia, Total Fucking Destruction, Psychotic Pulse, Xibalba, Vaulting, thedowngoing, and Sloth Herder
But of course one of the attractions of comps like this one is the chance to discover new bands — and there are a ton of them on this thing. My mind boggles at the effort it must have taken to assemble it. My mind is even more boggled by the news that Sociopathic Sound is already on the verge of releasing Volume 5!
Yes, it appears that Sociopathic Sound will be releasing a Vol. 5 mixtape later this same month. I’ll try to remember to spread the news about that as well. Given the talent included on Vol. 4, I’m quite interested in seeing what comes next.
The only beef I could see someone having with the Vol. 4 mixtape is that the tracks aren’t available for download on a song-by-song basis; you have to download the whole album. Of course, you could do that and then only keep what you like, but at least initially it’s a big investment in hard drive space. On the other hand, one purpose of comps such as this is to expose fans to new music by bands they might not otherwise discover.
But this is a minor beef, and is far overshadowed by the effort it took to put this together and by the quality of what’s included — just based on the music I already know, not to mention what other gems may be lurking in here for discovery.
Here’s the link to the Bandcamp page for the current volume:
http://sociopathicsound.bandcamp.com/album/sociopathic-mixtape-vol-4
And here’s the music stream:
4 Responses to “FREE SHIT: SOCIOPATHIC SOUND’S LATEST MIXTAPE GOES BIG WITH 100 FREE SONGS”
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Wow, while this isn’t the first metal media publicity we’ve received, it is by far the most significant in terms of the detail included as well as the fact that I’ve personally been an enormous fan of NO CLEAN SINGING since its inception years ago.
Thank you so much for covering this; our collective hope is to get these compilations out to as many people as possible, in order for – as you said – lesser known bands to become discovered by fans of the various extreme metal genres. In this respect, you are helping. In another, you’re also aiding the Sociopathic Sound (Records) cause and for that I’m infinitely grateful.
We’re currently in talks with about 5-6 bands & labels in a very serious capacity about either having them sign onto the new label all together, or to co-release splits / EP’s or to re-release previously recorded albums that never saw the light of day as a vinyl pressing (for example). We’ll definitely have a number of vinyl + digital releases out by the end of the year, and I think everyone will be VERY pleased with the quality of bands we’re going to sign and/or the labels we’ll be working with.
Lastly, I can’t thank you enough for recognizing how much time & energy it took to put Volume 4 & Volume 5 together. Even though there’s a small team behind me, who are going to begin taking a larger role now, up to this point it’s been solely me working on everything, as the owner & founder of Sociopathic Sound. I began compiling tracks for what was originally intended to be just one new volume of the compilation series back in late February – with hopes of having it out by early April.
By mid-March, I had so many tracks by so many bands, I decided to create a fifth compilation as well; so, 200 tracks by as many bands were collected into one folder, edited down (if there was too much silence at the beginning or end of a given track; this is for transitional purposes), and then very carefully tracked into an order which I felt contained the smoothest transition from song-to-song on both volumes.
I guarantee that everyone will think Volume 5 is just as impressive as Volume 4; glad to have finally finished the first one so it creates a sense of anticipation for the next. Vol. 5 is already done and uploaded to our Bandcamp site – has been for a few weeks – however, the aspect which takes the longest out of any is compiling the band biographies / song information / links to social media and other pertinent band sites. It is with the utmost quality, effort, and care that I do this to ensure every single band has as much information about them included as possible so people who discover something new they love have many outlets to delve further into the band(s).
By the way, I’ve definitely included some of your reviews as links for certain bands on Vol. 4; off hand there are too many tracks to remember such specifics, but as you look through the individual band info (by clicking on a given track title or band name, which’ll bring you to a separate page with all the info I spoke of) you’ll certainly see your site has been linked when needed and when relevant.
Again, thank you….it means a great deal to be recognized by a respectable publication such as yours. Hope to work together in some capacity again in the near future. Have a good day.
-Mike (Founder/Owner, Sociopathic Sound)
Thank you for taking the time (of which I suspect you have very little) to leave this comment! As I said in the post, I truly am impressed (and very grateful as a fan) for the effort it took to do this, and I think it’s especially cool that the bands you included represent such a diversity of sounds — and locales (I got an especially big smile when I saw that Arassicauda track). Amazing that you’ve got another hundred tracks already lined up for release!
I’m sure that launching a label/distro is a huge and risky undertaking, but it’s also a welcome development. Even with the expanded availability of platforms like Bandcamp for band self-releases, indie labels are still crucial to underground music (in my humble opinion), and we’ll continue to do all we can to support them.
this is insanely awesome, definitely downloading this, tonight!!
Yes! I found some great bands on Sociopathic Mixtape, Vol. 3. (Fell in love with Hypno5e!) Looking forward to listening to some new tunes and discovering some new bands! Thank you!